


The 5 Stages of a Migraine

by kesktoon04



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Back rubs, Cuddles, Fluff, Hurt Tony, M/M, Marvel - Freeform, Whump, and a little 'ooh', but not like sexy ooh, good boyfriend Steve, if freaking stony is happening, mcu - Freeform, migraines, not canon, obviously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:16:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23774461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kesktoon04/pseuds/kesktoon04
Summary: Steve knows Tony's getting a migraine.Tony knows he's getting a migraine.And all they can do is wait it out. Luckily Tony has one Steve Rogers to help him through it.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 53





	The 5 Stages of a Migraine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlossomsintheMist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlossomsintheMist/gifts).



> I'm dedicating this to Blossomsinthemist because I really love their Stony fics. I don't know if they'll see if, but hopefully they do :D
> 
> Also, just a disclaimer, I definitely pretend Civil War just... didn't even happen...

**Warning Signs**

Tony should have taken the slight pain in the back of his neck as a sign to stop for a while. He's _so close_ though. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he throws down the screwdriver that he had been using. "Damn it." 

The telltale waves of anxiety and fatigue should have been enough. Adding a suspicious pain in the back of his neck? That should have been the final straw. But anyone who knows Tony Stark knows that there's no way in hell that he's going to stop working until it's done. His latest project is a new modified web shooter for the kid. It's designed to convert water into web fluid, and it's a good idea. Tony is tired of getting panic calls from Karen that tell him his kid is falling and out of web fluid. 

Tony lets out a breathy sigh and picks the tool back up. _With all the time I’ve put into this, that kid better be perfectly behaved now._

He pauses his working to look up at the ceiling and winces at the shooting pain when he lifts his head too high. 

"Tony?" He closes his eyes and rests his hands on the table in front of himself, leaning against it heavily. "Come back to bed." Steve stands in the doorway, hair sticking up and hands rubbing over his eyes. 

"I will. Just give me a few minutes. I have to get this done." The mechanic frowns and his face hardens as he looks down, going back to the task at hand. He feels a presence behind him a few moments later and his hands tense up. 

_He's not going to hurt me._

Tony can't help the rest of his body following suit, he shakily sets the wrench that he'd been using in the glass platform and his body immediately tightened. Closing his eyes he tries to shake the sudden wave of anxiety. 

_No. Damn it. Calm down._

He tries to listen to his inner monologue, but the fast breaths start coming before he can start. 

"Damn- I- No. Shit. Not... here. No-no-no." Tony vaguely feels a hand on the back of his neck, vaguely sees his boyfriend's face, mere inches from his own. Steve's lips. Are they moving? Oh. No. Wait-

"Tony? Hey, sweetheart you're okay. Come on." Steve grabs the shorter man's hand gently, ignoring his resistance, and places it over his own heart and holds it there. "Okay, you've gotta breathe, breathe with me." He takes a deep breath in and holds it for four seconds before slowly releasing it. Steve watches Tony's stuttering attempts at mimicking him and wraps his free hand around the back of Tony's neck. Inwardly, Steve smiles as Tony grips his shirt, wrapping it into his tight fist. 

Tony's eyes fall shut and he leans into his boyfriend's hand in an attempt to ground himself. When it doesn't work he shakes his head. 

"S-Steve- I c-can't. No- I- It's not- I _can't_." He shakes his head a little, his expression pleading. 

"Yes. You can. Tony. I promise." Steve squeezes the back of Tony's neck a bit to show him what's real. "Focus on my hand. Okay? You're alright. I promise, you're okay. I'm here and you're here, but you _need_ to breathe for me." 

After what seems like years of Steve teaching Tony how to breathe, Tony calms down. He leans forward and rests his head on Steve's shoulder. Finally though, Tony opens his tired eyes and tries to melt into Steve's shoulder. 

"Are you-"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm sorry." He sighs and sits up to look at the other man. "It's just the beginning of a migraine. There's not much I can do about it now. You can go back to bed, I'm gonna keep working." Tony stands up from where they had ended up kneeling in front of his workbench. He rubs at his neck a bit with a grimace before picking the wrench back up. 

"Tony, come here." Steve says, leaving no room for discussion. He stands up and meets Tony halfway. The blond leans down to rest their foreheads together and reaches his right hand to place on Tony's aching neck. He presses a kiss to the shorter man's head and gently, but firmly, starts massaging the back of his neck. 

With a short sigh, Tony lets himself relax in the other man's hold. Steve doesn't miss how Tony sets the tool back on the table. "Thanks Steve." Tony's voice is quiet, but it's clear that the massage is helping. 

Steve keeps pressing gentle kisses to Tony's hair and shakes his head at the praise. "Don't worry about it. I want you to be comfortable, and I know you get hit hard by migraines, so I'm staying with you." When his boyfriend finally rolls his neck without any signs of pain, Steve adds, "Do you wanna come to bed now? At least get some sleep before this drains you?" 

Tony glances between Steve's pleading eyes and his work and hesitantly nods. "Yeah, let's get," He checks his watch to see that it's five AM. "About three hours?"

"Three hours. I hope phase two lets you sleep that long." ****

* * *

**Aura Symptoms**

Tony wakes up naturally at 7:49. He _would_ have laughed and made a joke about how his stupid brain couldn't have waited eleven minutes to spring to action, if he didn't wake up because his entire body felt like there were sparklers going off inside him. 

His eyes open wide against Steve's chest and he groans into him. "Mmph. Damn it." He throws the covers off and stands up in one fluid motion. He probably shouldn't have, though. Immediately after his feet are planted underneath himself, he feels as though they're going to toss him into the ceiling. Everything around him was spinning. 

He distantly heard Steve stirring in the bed but soon after, his deep snores returned. 

Tony thought about waking him up and asking him to help.

_What would he do though? I'm fine._

Right now all he needed to do was focus on not collapsing. Bracing his hands on the nightstand he tries to stifle his groans. His vision was dancing as he tried to focus on the digital alarm clock. He rubbed at his eyes and tried to read the time again. 

_4:30? That doesn't make sense._

Tony felt his knees start to wobble and sat back on the edge of the bed. His actions jostled a slowly waking Steve, who became more alert, when he saw Tony in distress. 

"Hey, Tones?" Steve's hand was on his shoulder now. _Focus on that_. That pressure, keeping Tony from spiraling with the rest of what he was seeing. "Stage two?" His voice is quiet, not knowing what symptoms his boyfriend is facing right now. 

Tony nods a bit but quickly closes his eyes, stopping the movement. He holds his hand up in a peace sign—or in this case, a number 'two'— to signify that yes, it is the second phase. 

Steve nods to himself before scooting towards the edge of the bed, but frowns a little at seeing how shaky Tony was. "Okay, sweetheart, I'm gonna try and help." The blond knew from experiences with Tony in the past that during the aura phase he was almost always dizzy. Guessing that that was the case for today, Steve gently wraps Tony's arm around his neck and helps him slide to the floor.

"M' dizzy." Tony mumbles into Steve's shoulder confirming his guess. 

When they got to the floor, Tony was immediately slumping forward, which helped Steve's goal. "I figured. Head between your knees." Steve helps guide him, knowing that it would help with the dizziness, which in turn would start to lighten whatever vision problems Tony was having. 

Steve stays kneeling next to him until the dizziness passes, gently rubbing his back. A few times, he hears muffled groans from the little ball that is his boyfriend. Eventually though, about an hour later, Tony slowly sits up straight and opens his eyes. 

"You get any sleep down there?" Steve asks, only joking a little, knowing that Tony needs some rest. 

Rubbing his eyes, Tony leans to the side, into Steve's chest. "No, not even a little. I just spent the last," Tony looks at the clock, finally being able to read it clearly, "63 minutes, trying not to fall into a spinning void in my eyes." After a few minutes Tony mumbles, "It's gonna be a bad one."

Steve nods and murmurs, "I figured as much. It's alright, you'll get through it. We'll use the tap system." Steve squeezes the other man's shoulder before helping him to his feet. "Let's go sit on the couch. I know that's the most comfortable for you when you get these headaches."

Slowly they make their way to the couch and Tony sighs before speaking. "We've got a long day ahead of us, don't we?"

In confirmation, Steve kisses his temple and nods, "Yeah, we do."

* * *

**The Migraine**

Ten minutes later, Steve had Tony sitting on the couch with him. He's been through this with his boyfriend many times before. Too many, if you ask Steve, but Tony refuses to ask Cho for any medication. That being said, Steve usually notices almost as fast as his boyfriend. 

This time, however, he didn't pick up on it until the hand that had been gently holding his wrist suddenly gripped tighter. 

Steve glanced up at Tony and watched his pupils dilate angrily at the dim lights. Tony winces at the roar of traffic outside and looks to his boyfriend for help. 

"Tones, tap system," he gently reminds the dark haired man, carefully turning his wrist over so Tony's fingers could rest on Steve's pulse point. Steve and Tony had talked about making up a system like this after the first really bad one. Steve had suggested tapping because it limited movement and he didn't have to talk. There was almost a code to it. One tap was 'can't talk' and two taps is 'really bad'. There were a few others that went along with it, but they didn't get used as often. 

He sighs slightly when he feels Tony's communication. 

Tap, Tap. Tap. Steve frowns and reaches his hand over, gently running a hand through the other man's hair. 

_Really bad. Not talking._

Steve nods and says, "Okay, Tony. Lay down." He starts guiding the other man to a more comfortable position, laying a pillow under his head as Steve stands up. "That's it. Nice and slow." 

Tony groans, not releasing his tight grip on Steve's wrist. Instead it tightens, and if Steve was ever due to be grateful for super strength, now was the time. He slowly reaches a hand up and places it on the back of Tony's neck, feeling his temperature rise steadily. 

He walks away and into the kitchen, nearly dropping the glass of water he was holding when he hears the telltale signs of puking coming from the common room. 

"Oh Tones..." Steve mumbles, grabbing a small trash can from under the kitchen sink. Half walking, half jogging into the room with it. He sits down by his boyfriend's head and grimaces at the pile of puke near the couch. He soothingly rubs Tony's back, only earning an angry groan from his partner. "I know, sweetheart. Let it out. You're okay." 

"Steve... It hurts." 

The super soldier was surprised at the vulnerability of Tony's voice and his heart almost broke at the sound of it. 

"Yeah, I'm sure it does. But you're so strong. You're doing great." Steve praises as he watches Tony sit up slowly. Before he can tell the man to lay back down, he feels Tony sagging into his side and knows exactly what to do. Steve settles himself in a position that he could maintain until this passes. He leans against the arm of the couch and gently, slowly leads his boyfriend to lay on his chest. He turns Tony as he lowers him and has him facing the back of the couch so his head is on Steve's left side, right above his heart. 

Tony groans into Steve's chest and mumbles, " M' head hurts." Steve lets out a slight laugh at the obviousness of this statement, but stops when he looks down at his boyfriend. Tony is clutching his head and swaying slightly as he tries to push himself up again. He doesn't let the hurt man move much, though, before he's carefully guiding his head back down to his chest. 

Steve jokes, "Hmm I wonder why? Maybe it's because migraines are the big-bad of headaches?" 

"Don't make fun of me right now, Rogers." Tony tries to put heat into his voice, but it doesn't amount to much and comes out sounding more like a whimper. Tony starts reaching around for Steve's hand blindly, which he finally locates after Steve so graciously grabs his own. Knowing exactly what Tony wants, Steve gently places his cool hand on the back of his boyfriend's neck. 

Steve frowns, feeling bad that Tony has to go through this. It's been worse since he got back from Titan. Steve starts to rub the back of the other man's neck and slowly flits his hand towards his temples. "Tones, what side right now?" 

Tony winces as he opens his eyes to look at Steve. He shuts them immediately and frowns, mumbling into Steve's chest. "Left."

Steve nods to himself, grateful that the side that was bothering him most was the side that was up. He wouldn't have to jostle Tony too much.

Steve whispers to FRIDAY as he starts to gently massage Tony's temple with the cool tips of his fingers. "Don't respond FRI, but can you turn the lights completely off?" He smiles slightly when the well-programmed AI follows the two commands. 

When Tony rolls into the couch more, Steve squeezes his arm with his free hand, then pulls the trashcan over towards them. _Just a precaution. Maybe we won't even need it,_ he hoped. He makes a mental note to clean the mess up when Tony inevitably falls asleep. 

"Go to bed, Tones. Sleep it off." When he earned a groan in response to his encouragement, Steve stifles his chuckle so he doesn't disturb his boyfriend. "It'll pass. Just go to sleep."

Steve leans down and places a gentle kiss on the crown of Tony's head while he continues to massage his temple. 

It's only a few minutes of Steve laying under Tony, trying to soothe him before it finally happens. Tony's breaths even out. His hands stop shaking. Steve sighs, but doesn't move yet. For good measure, he sits there for at least ten more minutes until he's sure that his boyfriend won't wake up. 

Carefully, Steve removes himself from under Tony and sighs as he stands up. It's a tricky game after that, but he manages to dodge all of the puke beside the couch. Five minutes later, Steve returns with his arms full of supplies. He fumbles to try and turn off the flashlight he'd been using. 

He leans over the couch to check and see if Tony was awake, sighing with relief when the man is still sleeping in the same position. He hums to himself as he starts to clean up around the couch, occasionally glancing at Tony and smiling softly at how calm and peaceful he looks. Times like this when Steve gets to see Tony sleep are the times that Steve loves the most. Tony always has his walls up around the others, so he likes that he's the only one who gets to see Tony this way. 

Steve is dumping all of the used paper towels into the small trash bin when he hears stirring from the couch. 

He closes his eyes for a minute, praying to anyone and anything that Tony would stay asleep. Of course, the Gods are not with him today. 

_Oh thanks Thor. Not even some calming rain?_

Steve is pulled out of his thoughts when his boyfriend calls out to him. 

"Steve?"

"I'm right here, Tones." He slowly reaches over to Tony and puts a firm hand on the man's shoulder. Steve needs to choose his words carefully now and he knows it. He knows what comes next. 

_Anxiety._

On par with Steve's thoughts, Tony whispers the same routine words. 

"Steve... Where?"

"New York. In the compound. On the couch." Comes the blond's usual answer. 

"What time is it?"

"10:04 AM."

"Migraine?"

"Migraine."Steve confirms gently, his mouth turning to a small frown. 

Tony hums, obviously satisfied with the common answers. Steve leans back, sitting on his heels as he waits for another question, but it never comes. Tony would usually ask _will you stay?_ too, but today he must be too uncomfortable to care. 

Steve smiles slightly to himself as he hears the even breaths coming from his boyfriend once again. 

* * *

**Resolution**

When Steve hears Tony groan again and feels the latter shift in his lap, he lets out a soft sigh and stills the hand that was on the back of his neck. Gently, Steve leans down to whisper in Tony's ear. 

"You finally with me, babe?"

"Uh..." Tony's voice is quieter than Steve's as he sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Yeah. I think it's almost over." Steve nods and grabs a bottle of water off of the side table, ready to hand it over whenever he needed it. "What time is it?" Tony glances around the room, squinting to see through the darkness. 

Frowning, Steve looks down at his watch. "Just after 6:00. You were in and out for eight hours." When Tony grabs for the water bottle, Steve hands it over and adds, "How do you feel, Tones?"

"Like I got hit by a bus." He takes a swig of the water before capping it up and tossing it back on the couch. The bottle slides to the floor and Tony mumbles 'that's unfortunate' before continuing the earlier statement. "And then shit on by birds and run over by a jet on a drag strip." He smiles slightly at his boyfriend and jokes, "So... better than my worst hangover." 

Steve wasn't amused though, and it showed on his face. The blond's look wiped Tony smirk off in an instant. 

"Fine." Tony amends, "I'm feeling better. For the most part." 

Steve leans over and presses a kiss to Tony's temple, resting his hand on the back of his neck as he did. The last time Tony had been hit with a migraine, he said that this helped him. That it felt nice. 

That being said, Steve isn't surprised when his boyfriend leans into the touch, his eyes slowly falling shut again. 

"Stevie..?"

"Yeah Tones?"

"I'm kind of... exhausted." He rolls his head to the side to look at Steve and sends him a sheepish smile. 

Steve lets out a soft chuckle before nodding. "Yeah, I'm sure you are. You've had a rough fifteen hours." Steve stands then and starts talking again. "FRIDAY, lights up to 20% please." He watches Tony to see if the brightness was okay for him now. Tony blinks a few times to adjust, but his face never becomes discomforted, so Steve is as satisfied as possible given the circumstances. 

"Okay. Let's get some food in you before you go back to bed."

Tony nods and mumbles 'alright', as Steve walks out into the kitchen. 

Sighing lightly, Tony frowns. If he were to rate 'Worst Migraines', this one would be top three at least. One time though, last December, he'd gone seventy-six hours straight without sleep, and barely any food. That three days set him up for the migraine sitting at #1 on the list. Tony thinks about it a bit and smiles, thinking about how utterly unprepared Steve had been for it. It was the first migraine Steve had gotten the pleasure of being present for, and honestly? Steve was a mess. He had run around like a chicken with its head cut off. 

Steve thought Tony had a brain tumor and all but threw him at Bruce in the Med Bay. 

Tony's oddly nostalgic thoughts were cut off by the warm mug of chicken noodle soup that had been placed in his hand. His stomach turned hungrily at the smell that immediately wafted into the air. 

"What were you thinking about?" Steve asks gently as he sits on the couch beside his boyfriend. 

"Do you really wanna know?" The blond nods a bit, so Tony answers. "You." There's a dramatic pause and Steve almost thinks Tony is going to be sweet.

Then his boyfriend keeps talking. "Specifically you and me. Last December." The smirk was all Steve needed to confirm what the other man had referenced. 

"Shut up and drink your soup." The blond quips, no real heat to his words. "You're exhausted, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up yourself old man." Tony sends his boyfriend a playful smile, clearly feeling better if he was back to poking at Steve's age. "Thanks for taking care of me, Stevie."

"Any time, Tones." He nods with a fond smile. "Oh! Wait! Except hopefully never again."

"Hopefully."

Tony agrees, sipping his soup, though they both know that's wishful thinking. 

* * *

**Recovery**

The next few days were spent with Tony lounging and Steve mother-henning. 

Tony's migraines always left both of them exhausted for days afterwards. Tony for obvious reasons. The poor guy spends hours on end in constant, nauseating pain. Tony has every single right to still be feeling fatigued and just generally spent. Steve on the other hand... didn't. 

While Steve never has to actually deal with the direct effects of a migraine, he gets a sort of second-hand exhaustion from them. 

However, he didn't close his eyes. Not once in the entirety of the fifteen hour attack. Instead, he opted to stay awake. Just in case Tony needed him. 

So really, the men were tired for different reasons. In different ways. 

It's been about three days since the migraine, and Steve had gotten about that many hours of sleep. Three. Which is why the two men were currently arguing. Really it was a stupid fight. The only reason it was even happening was because Tony's irritability has been through the roof for the last few days. 

"Tony, I'm fine." It must have been the fourth time— at least— that he'd said that. Also the fourth time that Tony hasn't believed him. 

"I don't think you've gone two minutes without yawning since we started this conversation." Tony's voice is hard, angry. 

"I am not," a pause, "that bad." The yawn that interrupts him causes Tony's face to soften as he sighs. 

"Stevie. Just take a nap. I'm okay." 

"No Tones. I'm fine. My job right now is to look after you." Steve blinks a few times to wake himself up and shakes his head. He's supposed to be hovering over Tony. Not the other way around, which is clearly what's happening right now. 

"Tony, please? Just let me take care of you." His plea is followed by another, more persistent yawn. Definitely not helping his case. 

Tony sits down slowly, planting himself on the floor next to Steve. 

On the floor?

"Yeah on the floor." Oh he'd said that out loud. "You slid right down before you made it onto the couch." Steve feels a cool hand on his own cheek and hums. Cool hands really are as nice as Tony makes it sound. The blond leans into it, his eyes slipping closed a bit. He almost fell asleep right there. Almost. 

Steve opens his eyes again and looks at his boyfriend. "No. Stop. I'm okay. This should be the other way. I should be helping you."

Tony's reply came easily; he didn't have to think about it. 

"Not until you help yourself."

Tony holds his hands out to Steve after he stands up. When the blond finally cooperates, he pulls his boyfriend up just enough to help him lay down on the couch. 

Steve grunts slightly and huffs in his displeasure. "Tony. I'm not the one who should lay down. I didn't have an eight hour migraine a few days ago." His words are those of protest, sure. But the way his head rolls to the side tiredly betrays him. 

"You're right, Stevie, but you're well on your way to one."

There's a blanket on him now. Steve's eyes involuntarily fall shut.

"You know," another soft yawn interrupts him, "I've gone longer than this without sleeping." 

Neither man talks after that. Which gave Steve the time and peace of mind for him to finally get some rest. When Tony was sure that his boyfriend was finally sleeping, he responds softly. 

"I know, Stevie."

And it was true. Steve had gone longer, but it was a completely different circumstance; Tony and Nebula were lost in space for an entire month right after the initial snap. Steve Rogers was the highest form of Avenger then. In that month, Steve surpassed avenging someone he met once. He skipped over avenging a friend. No, none of that. Steve went straight to avenging a lover. Avenging someone he needed in his life almost as much as he needed air. 

That was his circumstance. 

When Tony made it back, Steve slept. Actually slept. 

Sam had told Tony that Steve had barely slept or ate in the time he was missing. Steve was a wreck then, and Tony would never be able to take all that pain away from him. The best he could do was try to fill his boyfriend with as much love and appreciation as he could to the man who takes care of him so well. Tony couldn't blame him though. If their roles were reversed, he couldn’t imagine that he’d do any better. 

Just in case.

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo I got a bit carried away with the recovery stage and i definitely turned the focus to Steve... hope you don't hate it xD
> 
> HUGE thanks to HanukoYoukai


End file.
